


The Weight of Darkness

by FanDreams01



Series: Requests [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Batfamily (DCU) Feels, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Gen, Tim Drake Needs a Break, Tim Drake is Batman, Tim Drake-centric, but he's actually managing to function mostly healthily for once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:41:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28177071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanDreams01/pseuds/FanDreams01
Summary: For Iloveit18 who wanted the batfamily reacting to Batman!Tim.~~~Tim was older and looked more weary. Scars littered his face and neck, visible without the costume blocking them from view. He stood ramrod straight, muscles tensed and on edge like he was waiting for the shoe to drop.“Tim?” He questioned, just to make sure.“Bruce,” There was a note of relief hidden well in Tim’s voice, and Bruce thought he caught a glimpse of him stepping forward, before Tim stopped himself.
Relationships: Tim Drake & Bruce Wayne
Series: Requests [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1938085
Comments: 3
Kudos: 137





	The Weight of Darkness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Iloveit18](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iloveit18/gifts).



> Wow, I promised this and some other requests a while ago. But school and some other projects have kept me busy, so sorry.  
> I could NOT come up with a good title for this fic lol.

Bruce had been called in to the Watchtower on one of his rare nights off with his children - mandated by Dick and Alfred for renewing family bonds still damaged. The disapproving look from Alfred as soon as his bat-related work phone went off was enough for Bruce to try and push off the matter for the night.

Clark, however, had insisted Bruce come in, and the tone of his voice had been strange enough when informing Bruce of a bat from an alternate world for Bruce to realize there was something about this other Batman the other found off putting. 

He’d quickly excused himself from the others, telling them he’d be back as quickly as possible. (Though they all knew that could mean any time between a few hours and two weeks.)

Stepping into the watchtower, Bruce found he could understand why Clark had been unnerved. The two bats stared at each other, frozen.

The other Batman had removed his cowl, likely after the leaguers present - just Clark, Barry and Diana - had given him the code signalling they knew the identity of the bat, revealing not Bruce under the cape, but Tim.

Tim was older and looked more weary. Scars littered his face and neck, visible without the costume blocking them from view. He stood ramrod straight, muscles tensed and on edge like he was waiting for the shoe to drop. 

“Tim?” He questioned, just to make sure.

“Bruce,” There was a note of relief hidden well in Tim’s voice, and Bruce thought he caught a glimpse of him stepping forward, before Tim stopped himself.

Bruce’s eyebrows furrowed and he opened his mouth before forcing himself to close it. It wasn’t the time to ask questions, he reminded himself, at least not about what he wanted to.

“Now that Batman is here,” Diana cleared her throat, “I believe we should begin. What are you doing here?”

Tim’s gaze immediately snapped to her. “I was helping out one of my world’s speedsters in Central City against what we thought was a teleporter. Apparently our guess was wrong.” Bruce notes how Tim avoids identifying a hero name - not the Flash then. “Multiverse travel does make more sense I suppose, seeing as no one they ever ‘teleport’ other than them reappears.”

Barry hums. “Well, I’ve already run some tests to figure out your earth’s frequency. It’ll take about a day, but I should be able to get you back to your earth.” 

Tim nodded in thanks. “Is there anywhere I could rest for the night, then?”

The words coming from Tim were unheard of, in the Wayne household, but Bruce supposed it was simply because this version of his son didn’t exactly have work he could do while he waited. No research on this world would be of importance to him - it didn’t take a genius to figure out Tim’s world was at some point in the future, simply going off of his age. 

“You could come to the Manor with me,” Bruce offered, because he was trying to be a better father and this was technically his son. His son who had taken up the Batman mantle, and Bruce didn’t know how he felt about that.

Batman was not a burden he had ever wanted to give to any of his children, it had been horrible enough coming back from time to find Dick in the suit. Not because he didn’t trust his eldest or envy him for bonding with Damian or any of the other assumptions that had been made when he’d returned, but because Batman was a creature of darkness that could smother what light a person held if they weren’t careful. And he never wanted that for his kids.

Tim blinked in shock, hesitated, and then seemed to resign himself to whatever fate he thought was coming. “Sure,” he muttered. 

Clark nodded. “Alright, well. Be back tomorrow.” Bruce wasn’t sure which Batman he was addressing, but they both nodded.

Bruce turned back to the teleporters and Tim trudged behind him with all the enthusiasm of a soldier marching to battle.

~~~

The others were in the living room when Bruce and Tim arrived, and Bruce was almost glad the Tim of his world had had to miss the evening due to a Titans mission off planet lasting longer than expected. It would prevent confusion at least  ~~ and Bruce didn’t want Tim to see himself like this. ~~

They weren’t watching movies anymore, the tv paused as they talked and bantered. Bruce’s lips quirked up slightly at the sight.

He almost didn’t register when the sound of Tim’s footsteps behind him stopped, but he turned and noted how Tim stood stalk still, gaze darting over the faces in the living room like he was trying to memorize the scene.

What had happened?

“B!”

Bruce looked back over, and realized Dick had spotted him.

His eldest beamed at him from over the coach, before his eyes slid past Bruce and his smile dropped. “B… is that…?”

Bruce cleared his throat awkwardly, Damian, Jason and Cass had also turned their attention over and spotted Tim. “This is another world’s Batman. He’ll be staying with us for the night.”

“Drake?” Damian asked, scandalized.

Tim snorted softly, “Hey, Damian.” Then quickly added, “Sorry, I’ll be out of your hair soon. This is just for the night.” 

Bruce spotted the crease forming between Dick’s eyebrows and decided to step in before this turned into an interrogation. “Tim, how about you go get some rest.”

“Alright,” The answer was automatic, and Bruce wondered why Tim still responded to his orders so readily if he was no longer Batman.

Questions could wait though, he decided as Tim quickly fled down the hall towards the stairs.

“Bruce, what the hell was that?” Jason asked.

Bruce sighed, “I don’t know. I was planning on asking in the morning.” 

“I demand to be there and know why Drake is Batman and not me.” Damian said, though Bruce knew his youngest worried about someone other than Bruce being in the mantle rather than who exactly it was, if he wasn’t worried about what damage had been visible on Tim.

“Very well,” Bruce allowed. “Now get to bed, all of you. It’s late.”

They slowly trickled out of the room, Dick and Jason sending glances at Bruce to let him know they wanted to be in on this interrogation as well. Bruce didn’t even need to ask Cass - Tim was her favorite, after all. 

“He is hurt.” Cass spoke up as she trailed out, then shook her head and amended, “lonely.”

~~~

Breakfast was quiet, until Tim broke the silence hanging over them all.

Sighing, he dropped his spoon. “Alright, I know you all have questions. Just get them over with.”

Bruce looked at him, trying not to linger on any of the scars visible on Tim’s arms now that he was no longer in the batsuit. They all had scars, but Bruce never thought he would see any of his sons’ scar counts come to rival his. (Jason’s might have, if the Lazarus Pit didn’t erase the scars from before his death.)

“Why are you Batman?” Damian questioned after no one spoke up.

Tim shrugged, something dark falling over his expression. “B died, someone had to take it up.”

Bruce had expected that; there was no other reason for anyone else to be Batman other than him not being around. 

“Why didn’t I? I mean, I have before, at least in this world.” Dick asked curiously.

Tim clenched his fists together, bringing them up to cover his mouth. “You did.”

It was a simple statement, but it was enough.

Enough to know that, if Dick had been Batman after Bruce had died, but now Tim was, something had happened to him as well.

“Well,” Jason tried to change the subject, “What about the rest of us? Am I as kick ass in your world as I am here?”

Tim huffed in slight amusement. “Probably. You… don’t really come around anymore; went back to killing after B and Dick. Cass comes and goes between Gotham and Hong Kong, Babs and Steph retired, and Damian…”

Tim trailed off.

“What about Dami?” Dick demanded, “Did something happen to him?”

Bruce could understand where he was coming from - if something had happened to Tim’s Damian, it might happen to theirs, but they could prevent it with a warning.

He also knew, that Tim was from another world and anything that happened there was not guaranteed to occur in theirs - other than Darkseid. And it wouldn’t get them anywhere to snap at Tim.

“I don’t really know what exactly happened. After we heard about you, he went off on his own and got himself hurt, badly.” Tim explained calmly, fingers squeezing each other tightly. “Enough so that he needed to retrain his body after recovering. So I sent him to train with experts, the ones B sent me to that I could track down.”

There was silence before Bruce had an epiphany. “So you’re taking care of Gotham on your own?”

Tim nodded.

The idea didn’t sit well with him, and Bruce remembered suffocatingly silent nights full of violence and pain. He hadn’t had one of those in ages, and he didn’t think he’d ever be able to return to them. He couldn’t imagine Tim learning how to handle them when he’d always had some form of company even when searching for Bruce.

“Look, it’s fine. I’ve been Batman for a few years now and I’ve adjusted. I can still call on the League or the older Titans when things get bad. Most of what I just mentioned is mostly healed wounds. Damian’s been doing better from what I hear and he should be coming back soon.”

None of them quite knew how to continue the conversation so they moved on.

When it came time for Tim to return to his world Bruce went up to the Watchtower with him. 

“There’s a good chance nothing will happen, but… I did put some files on how things went down in my world just in case you need them.” Tim told him.

Buce huffed out a breath. “Always prepared,” he muttered. “Thank you.”

Tim smirked and nodded, leaving to his own world. Bruce didn’t like it, but he couldn’t exactly keep the hero.

If their Tim noticed the slight hovering of them all except for Damian when he returned exhausted but mostly unharmed he didn’t comment.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think Tim would become Batman out of all the batkids, even though he's the most Bruce-like, unless it was absolutely necessary. His whole hero carrier is basically based out of necessity: Batman needed Robin and he needed a mantle to find Batman. I also don't see him wanting to become Batman.  
> Batman!Cass has my vote for sure though.  
> Also, RIP Jason, Dick and Damian's other world selves not having fun times.


End file.
